Soul Power Scalpel? Soul Guidance Engraving Knife! Please Follow! Please Invest!

Have you ever seen the sun over Suotuo City at five in the morning?

No. Neither had Chen Hong, because the sun had not risen at five yet.

On the dim, deserted street, Chen Hong stood outside the Chen Family Ironworks. He was just about to raise his hand and knock on the door, shouting for the old man to open up, but when his hand finally touched the door, he stopped.

It was still too early. If he recklessly knocked like this and a bunch of burly Blacksmiths jumped out and dragged him inside to sell his ass, what then?

"My dad is Chen Lin! Who would dare screw my ass?" Unexpectedly, Chen Hong answered the chaotic thoughts in his own mind.

Then Chen Hong gave himself a light slap. "Look at you. What nonsense are you spouting all day? Seriously."

Hugging his cloth bag, Chen Hong squatted by the entrance of the Blacksmith Shop. On the dim street, he looked like a kid who had spent all night at an internet café and was too scared to knock when he got home at dawn.

"Still, Comprehending Soul Rings really does have something to it." Chen Hong sat on the threshold, staring at the empty street as he reflected inwardly.

Chen Hong knew his mental state was perhaps a little too colorful. Especially after spending too long around crowds, all sorts of stray thoughts would spring up in his head.

But Chen Hong was exceptionally good at making peace with himself. As long as he did not think there was anything wrong with him, then there was nothing wrong with him. From a psychological perspective, this was Chen Hong's final line of defense. He could not believe there was something wrong with him, because the moment he did, there really would be.

Unless Chen Hong could figure out the cause of this "rational madness" of his, he could only rely on his Sage Time to keep himself alive at crucial moments.

"The Soul Power flow nodes in a Soul Ring are nearly impossible to detect. Even if I concentrate and use a frame-by-frame overlay method, I can only leave a few spatial points in my mind."

"Perhaps as my comprehension deepens, the spatial nodes of the Soul Power flow will increase, until countless points form a complete flowchart."

Using Mental Power to examine the few black dots he had deliberately marked in his mind, Chen Hong sincerely felt as though a blind cat had stumbled upon a dead mouse and found the right path.

He had a mental-type martial soul. After advancing to a One-Ring Soul Master, he had gained a certain degree of Mental Introspection.

"I remember that in some novels, mages could communicate with heaven and earth, directly constructing Spell Formulas in the world with Mental Power before activating them. If I fully comprehend the ru—ptui, the Soul Ring, could I skip the Soul Ring entirely and directly cast soul skills???"

At the thought, Chen Hong's eyes flashed brightly. He felt like he had grasped something important, but the spark of inspiration vanished in an instant, leaving him with nothing.

Damn it, first comprehend the Sage Time rune and use its results to reflect the underlying logic of this world.

Unable to figure it out, Chen Hong decisively set the question aside and focused on something else.

With a thought from Chen Hong, a thread slowly emerged within his empty mind. The fine line continuously weaved through three-dimensional space, eventually leaving behind a three-dimensional image.

This is only a guess. The Soul Power flow pattern of the Soul Power Scalpel—that is, the Soul Guidance Engraving Knife—becomes this cylindrical three-dimensional shape when visualized. I used the compression logic from my previous life, but the underlying logic is not that different, and experiments have proved it still works. So can I understand this three-dimensional shape as an engraving inscribed upon an object?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Dad, open the door!"

Thinking of it, Chen Hong immediately got up and pounded on the door. In order to get Chen Lin to come out and protect his son's ass—safety—Chen Hong did not call him old man this time and unusually called him Dad.

"Hey! That brat is so annoying!"

"Motherfucker! Doesn't that kid ever sleep?"

"Master Chen! Hurry up and get your little ancestor out of here!"

Amid a chorus of sighs and complaints, Chen Lin, his hair a mess and a coarse cloth jacket draped over him, came to open the door for Chen Hong.

"What are you doing here so early?" Chen Lin rubbed his bleary eyes and helplessly asked Chen Hong, who slipped past him.

"Don't worry! I'm not forging! Go back to sleep!" Chen Hong promised Chen Lin before hurrying toward the small inner courtyard his father had specially built.

Once inside, Chen Hong took the crude Soul Guidance Engraving Knife from his backpack, retrieved a relatively soft copper sheet from the storeroom, and used the sharp knife to carve out a sealed cylinder the size of his thumb in radius. He then used his Psychic Power to check for leaks. After patching any leaks, Chen Hong used his remaining Soul Guidance Silver Thread to perform Three-Dimensional Riveting according to the Energy Compression Engraving pattern. However, at the High-Pressure Soul Power outlet, he added another lump of mithril and used wire to make a movable valve at the energy inlet.

Once Chen Hong injected Soul Power into this sealed canister, the Soul Power would continuously compress within the Compression Engraving circuit, eventually becoming High-Pressure Soul Power and entering a large mithril Soul Power Node. Beneath this node, which temporarily stored the High-Pressure Soul Power, was connected a long wire whose endpoint and inlet could form an Energy Circuit. As long as Chen Hong closed the opening, the High-Pressure Soul Power inside would form a circuit in an instant and be forcibly contained.

At that point, one of two things would happen. Either it would become a portable grenade and explode at any moment, or the Soul Power Conduction Wire forming the circuit would continuously emit intense heat and wear away the Soul Power inside.

To keep the explosion from being too powerful, Chen Hong had specifically chosen softer copper, so even if it exploded, it would not cause too much damage.

Even so, Chen Hong did not dare test it himself. Such a sacred and solemn task naturally had to be entrusted to his most, most, most beloved father, Chen Lin.

If Soul Power was regarded as a kind of "qi," Chen Hong was now testing whether Soul Guidance Mithril possessed the ability to store "qi."

Why could Spirit Masters store "qi"? Chen Hong guessed there were two possibilities: one was internal and external pressure, and the other was the existence of an organ that stored qi.

If it was the former, then Chen Hong believed Soul Guidance Mithril should also possess the ability to "contain qi" under suitable conditions. If it was the latter... then Chen Hong could only hope Chen Lin would not be blown up too badly.

If it was a combination of both, then Chen Hong would have far too many possible avenues to choose from!

So that his father could walk into it well-rested and full of energy, Chen Hong prepared everything and did not disturb him while he slept. He waited until his father had slept comfortably, slept soundly, and woke naturally.

"Dad, come help me with something."

For some reason, the newly awakened Chen Lin felt his heart tighten the instant he heard that "Dad."

Thanks to Beef Sauce Noodles reader 7171 for the monthly ticket!